Super Best Audio Friends

So in comes Drop to resurrect the PM-3 as the Panda, but their style, has added their flourishes: revised tuning, a THX AAA amp with feedforward distortion correction, and wireless Bluetooth functionality. How 'bout that? How many of you guys were wishing there was a wireless PM3? Well you guys got your wish. The tuning has be revised very slightly. If there was any compliant with the PM3s sound, it was that it might have been too murky in the lows. Drop pulled the bass back just a bit, still retaining most of the original's V-shaped response. This tuning will be favorable to consumers and many audiophiles, particularly people on the go, who may in be airplanes or trains (where a bit of boost in the lows and highs will help cut through the environmental noise).

Drop Panda Frequency Response
EARS coupler + SBAF compensation (perceptual neutral approximately straight vertical line across)

Please refer to this thread for the RAAL Requisite SR1a: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...udio-sr1a-review-holy-moly-buy-this-now.8041/



The Jotunheim R was amp created mostly for the RAAL Requisite SR1a Ear monitors. RAAL Requisite is an outfit which has made boutique pro gear. The idea behind the SR1a was for a portable pro mixing or mastering platform. The SR1a requires a converter box for use with speaker amplifiers. Without getting too deep into the details, there are a bunch of resistors and coils inside the box so that speaker amps can drive the RAAL ribbon, which is in essence a short circuit. The ribbon is just a piece of metal tape bathed in a magnetic field. Those who have DIY'd speakers using RAAL ribbon drivers know that they come with a big massive box behind them. Inside this box is a transformer that allows power amps used to driving 8-ohms, 4-ohms, maybe even slightly lower, to feed the 0.2-ohms of the ribbon (or something close to that, but you guys get the idea). What the Jotunheim R does is offer a direct drive to the ribbon, without anything in between (more on this next paragraph).

This will be another one of my stream of consciousness deals as there's just too much to cover. This is the best way for me to let you guys know about as many aspects of the "Micro BL" as possible. Feel free to ask pointed questions.



The iFi Micro iDSD BL could be the finest transportable all-in-one amp/DAC unit I have heard. It might be interesting to compare to the Chord Hugo 2 under more controlled circumstances (blind and in a home setting) however; but that may need to wait. Or maybe not, since the Hugo 2 at $2500 is meant for people who's parents in a totally different wealth bracket. For what it's worth, I didn't care for the Hugo 2. However to be fair, I may have judged it based on performance to cost, or I could have had the the wrong filter settings that did not suit my preferences.

The changes implemented for 2018 are retained: Golden Schlongs and Honorable Mentions (now Silver Dongs) are granted on per category basis (headphones, amps, sources, portable, and other). Each category will not necessarily have a GS winner; but each category will have at least a DS. It is also possible for a category to have multiple GS winners.



Last year we were super selective. There were few winners. Not much gear really got the senior members excited as many nominations were veto'd for an award. This year however is totally different. Lots of great stuff worthy of GS awards. It can even be argued that the DS gear deserved GS awards. I almost feel bad about giving out so many awards because the award is supposed to be selective - not everybody is supposed to be a winner. But the fact is, lots of great stuff this year, and some quite affordable too.

Some context here: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...solid-state-power-amp-adventures.3789/page-29



I picked one of these up for cheap, thinking it would be be Class D based on its light weight. (I'm still looking for a class D amp that I find satisfying). Looks like I could have gotten fooled (explains why I actually thought this thing sounded too damn good for class D?). I realized that only the Crown DriveCore stuff or DSi series are officially stated to be class D. Crown's lineup is extremely confusing. I'm not sure that even their reps can explain. I don't know if the CDi (non DriveCore) is class AB? Crown is very coy about a lot of shit these days.

TL;DR: The digital transport makes a difference in the sound of your system, and Unison USB is not the “great equalizer” making even your shitty PC sound as good as a multi-kilobuck purpose-built digital audio transport devices (it may get close enough for many people however). I’m not advocating spending multi-kilobucks on a transport, but don’t expect your 3 year old Chromebook to do as well as a device that’s specifically designed to feed audio to your DAC (Unison USB or otherwise).

Not all digital transports are created equal. Bits aren’t bits. We’ve seen this through the evolution of CD players as well as USB as an audio interface. The quality of the transport matters, even with modern computer-based digital audio solutions that claim to have vanishingly low jitter.

Many are eagerly anticipating the launch of Unison USB for Schiit’s upgradable DACs, wondering “does it really beat SPDIF?”, “is it better than AES”? I’ve had a Unison USB Beta board in my Yggdrasil A2 for over a year now and have been extremely impressed with it from the start. It has handily beaten any other USB implementation I’ve heard (granted I’ve never heard the TOTL stuff like the Berkeley Alpha USB or the dCS Network Bridge).

Compared to the LCD-2C, the LCD-1 doesn't have quite the same extension below 50Hz, but it's still good. It's certainly brighter around 3-4KHz and possibly around 8-10KHz too. And despite the LCD-1 having its share of response anomalies, it has a more controlled, smoother look overall, whereas the LCD-2C exhibits a more ragged response.



LCD-1 vs HD6XX (stock), just for reference. Not sure I need to add commentary.

Notable highlights:
The cross-talk behaves as if dual mono, though yggdrasil performs 10 dB better.
Noise floor and dynamic range are nearly identical Bal or SE.
Noise floor and dynamic range are exceptional for an 18 bit multibit instrumentation DAC.
Jitter spurs are nearly as low as yggdrasil.
Quite an accomplishment for the small footprint and price-point achieved.

Drop x JVC HA-FDX1 Dual Carbon IEM

Before we even say another word about this, we need to start here: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...vc-fd01-a-new-contender-for-best-dd-iem.6500/

@james444 is always digging up random IEMs and modding them with impressive results. He posted a few before and after measurements of the mods, and before long, we purchased a JVC HA-FD01 from a Japan to send along on our loaner program. Most of the folks who heard the loaner, at least those earlier in line, should be aware that I had only implemented a quick and dirty version of the mods. The "authentic" @james444 mods were much more intricate. I think @zerodeefex can tell you guys what a pain in the ass it was for him to do it right. I hindsight, I guess I could have paid my kids (with their smaller fingers) to do the proper mod for me. Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that the proper mods result in better bass quality compared to the quick and dirty version.

Desert ironwood looks awesome -- I think I am saying this phrase every year lol.. regardless, it's definitely another wood I desire to collect.


According to the Wood Database, this wood is as hard (3,260 janka lbf) and dense (75 lbs/ft3) as African Blackwood: https://www.wood-database.com/desert-ironwood/
(harder and denser than Cocobolo)

FR measurement (not Jude's but Zach's) looks interesting too. Not sure about which pads were on each. @zach915m may chime in.